Feature
Description

The Transactional
Rule Matching (TRM) feature is enhanced to support response-based TRM for HTTP
protocol. This feature is applicable to all HTTP transactions of a method type
for the subscriber, when an HTTP method is configured for response-based TRM. A
configurable option is provided to limit the behavior to HTTP methods
configured for response-based TRM.

TRM gets engaged on
the HTTP request packet and all further packets in the HTTP transaction bypass
rule matching. The same rule is matched and charging-action is applied as that
of the HTTP request.

With this release,
a new variant of TRM is introduced, where engagement of TRM can be delayed till
HTTP response is received. When response-based TRM is configured for a
subscriber, TRM gets engaged on the first complete HTTP response packet. The
same rule and charging action is applied to all further packets in the HTTP
transaction.

Response-based
TRM is supported only for the HTTP protocol. There is no capability to
selectively enable response-based TRM for some HTTP transactions of a
particular HTTP method type and not to other transactions of the same method
for a subscriber.

Response-based
TRM will support pipelined HTTP requests (both concatenated and
non-concatenated). This will also support persistent HTTP connections. For
pipelined HTTP requests of different HTTP methods, this feature will be applied
only to those HTTP methods for which it is configured.

Response-based
TRM can be enabled for subscribers classified according to the APN,
Virtual-APN, Rulebase, or a combination of these.

The
transactional-rule-matching
response command is added in the ACS Trigger Action configuration
mode to delay engagement of TRM for the flow.

The
show active-charging analyzer
statistics name http command displays the count if the feature
has been applied to the different HTTP transactions based on HTTP request
methods.

The service-scheme framework configuration is required to configure
and enable the Response-based Charging feature for a subscriber. This framework
is introduced to disassociate the dependency with rulebase/PCRF and update the
policies specific to subscribers based on pre-configured events. For more
information on the service-scheme framework, see the
ECS Administration Guide.

Overview

The response-based TRM feature
enables inspection of the HTTP response packets while still deriving the
performance benefit of TRM. Based on the content in the HTTP response,
free-rating or charging can be applied to all subsequent packets in the HTTP
transaction. TRM is engaged on the response packet and rule-match can be
bypassed for all subsequent packets in the HTTP transaction.

Relationships to
Other Features

This section
describes the interoperability of the Response-based TRM feature with other ECS
features.

Delay charging
of control packets:

Charge-to-application option: This option of delay charging of control packets
delays rule matching and charging of all TCP control packets or subsets of it,
depending on the configuration. This feature will continue to work with
response-based TRM in the same way as is with existing TRM.

Charge-separate-from-application option: This option to delay charging of
control packets delays rule matching and charging of TCP control packets and
charges them to an L7/L4/L3 rule at the end of the flow. This feature will
continue to work with response-based TRM in the same way as is with existing
TRM.

Websocket: This
feature involves charging subsequent packets of the flow after HTTP GET request
as per the HTTP request, if the HTTP flow is upgraded to be a websocket flow.
When Response-based TRM is configured for HTTP GET method, the HTTP response
packet is rule matched and rule matching is bypassed for subsequent packets
till the end of the flow, if the flow is upgraded to a websocket flow. If flow
does not get upgraded to websocket flow, then rule match is bypassed for
subsequent packets till the end of the GET transaction.

HTTPS, RTSP,
RTCP, WSP analyzers: Response-based TRM is not supported for these analyzers.
This is supported only for the HTTP protocol.

Transactional
Rule Matching (TRM): The TRM-specific CLI command must be configured at the
rulebase level for response-based TRM to be functional. When both TRM and
response-based TRM are configured for a subscriber, response-based TRM will
take precedence.

Response-based
Charging: When Response-based charging is enabled for a subscriber, HTTP
request packets will be charged according to the HTTP response packet.
Response-based charging will be supported with Response-based TRM.

How It Works

This section describes the Response-based TRM configuration. The
Service Scheme framework configuration is required to configure and enable this
feature for a subscriber.

Use the sample
configuration to enable the response-based TRM feature for a subscriber on a
particular rulebase.